The costs of Canadian group benefits seem to be increasing each and every year. While there are a number of factors that play a role in this trend, one of the more difficult factors is the rise of fraudulent claims. In this article, I want to discuss the growing concern of group insurance fraud, explain how...
In my previous article about Health Spending Accounts, I examined the advantages and disadvantages of this product.
The advantages for the employer are significant:
Cost certainty
Return of unused funding
The advantages for the employee are more numerous but not as significant
Broad coverage
No...
Group benefit plan costs continue to soar year after year. The average annual trend increase on group benefits premium in Canada is approximately 10-20% for disability premium, 12-18% for health premiums, and 6-12% for dental premiums.
In my last article, I addressed one method for lowering extended health...
A benefits vehicle that has been gaining traction in recent years is the not-so-new Private Health Services Plan. PHSPs have been available to Canadians as a tax-advantaged health expense vehicle since the late 1980’s. For a number of reasons that are primarily financial, these products are experiencing a...
A Globe and Mail article from earlier this year brings into focus a glaring inconsistency in drug costs across the country. Although medicare covers in-hospital expenses, it does not cover prescription drug expenses (which are often a complement to care provided in the hospital). Depending upon the province,...
B.C.’s worker’s compensation board recently brought awareness to a negative trend emerging regarding women and workplace injuries in British Columbia. Apparently, the percentage of workplace injury claims made by women has increased substantially over the past two decades.
This may be an optimal time to...
There is a lot of focus these days towards containing the current costs within group benefits. Organizations are searching for solutions to help lower claims; we all know that today’s claims equal tomorrow’s premium. Most organizations approach the problem by either reducing coverage within the...
A recent article in the Globe and Mail raised an interesting issue about how single people are sometimes faced with a different set of rules than those with families. The same can be said in regards to the differing benefit needs of single workers, as opposed to workers with families. Some singles feel that...
Every year we hear about hurricanes, floods and earthquakes that result in damage to property and a tragic loss of life. This year it seems like there were more of these events than ever before. Recently we have begun to see information disclosed by reinsurance companies and insurance companies detailing...
If you’ve ever changed doctors, you’re probably already aware that most offices charge a fee to transfer medical records. Although the information contained in your records is yours, the record itself belongs to the doctor. Because doctors are required to keep a copy of your record, they cannot simply...
